Bible study 228 – Judges 18: “Micah and Dan 2”

The first verse, which says that the tribe of Dan has not been allotted lands yet, directly contradicts Joshua 19 (although it has been suggested before that Dan lost their lands). Either way, they are looking for a place to live, and find some “quiet and unsuspecting” people in Laish. So they mount a war party and set off. On the way they find Micah and his shrine, and they steal his idol. Then they murder all the Philistines in Laish, and rename the place Dan.

Again, I’m not really sure what this story is about. Micah is certainly no saint, and neither is Dan (or they would have destroyed the idol). But nothing really bad happens to either party. Possibly, the story just serves to show how rotten to the core the Israelites were at this points (we are near the end of Judges).

Judges 18:24… “You take my gods that I made, and the priest, and go away, and what have I left?”